Written Answers Tuesday 16 October 2007

Scottish Executive

Animal Welfare

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what contribution it makes to the budget of the UK’s National Wildlife Crime Unit in North Berwick and whether it intends to maintain or increase this commitment.

Michael Russell: Lothian and Borders Police currently provide support to the unit in the form of accommodation and other support services. We have undertaken to examine the case for additional financial support to the unit, which will include considering with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland whether there could be a case for a collective contribution in recognition of the value which the unit provides to Scottish police services. All decisions on funding beyond the current year will need to be taken within the context of the outcome of the Spending Review.

Animal Welfare

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that the number of alleged cases of wildlife crime is well recorded, including the number of incidents, the number investigated by the police, the number reported to procurators fiscal, the number prosecuted and the number securing a conviction.

Michael Russell: The Scottish Government will address any recommendations on this matter raised by the reviews to be undertaken by HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary and HM Chief Inspector of Prosecutions in Scotland.

Animal Welfare

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive who pays for autopsies carried out in cases where wildlife crime is suspected.

Michael Russell: The Scottish Government pays for the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme, which is operated by the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency with autopsy assistance from the Veterinary Services of the Scottish Agricultural College.

Animal Welfare

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether bluetongue has reached Scotland.

Richard Lochhead: No. The disease is currently present in Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and England.

Animal Welfare

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what means to eradicate bluetongue would be put in place if the disease reaches Scotland.

Richard Lochhead: The plan for responding to bluetongue within the UK, including within Scotland, is outlined in the document "UK Bluetongue Control Strategy", which was published in early August and is available on the Scottish Government and Defra websites. This strategy, on which any response to bluetongue is based, was jointly developed and agreed by UK Governments, experts, and industry.

  The main focus of a response to a bluetongue outbreak in Scotland would be to declare a 20km radius control zone around the infected premises, along with a minimum 100km radius protection zone and a surveillance zone extending 50km beyond that, and to introduce movement restrictions within these zones. Movement of animals within or out of these zones would only be permitted in certain circumstances and under licence with certain compulsory precautions, e.g. testing for disease or the use of insecticides. Routine on-farm use of insecticides would not be required. As bluetongue is a vector (i.e. midge) borne disease, large scale culling of animals is not expected.

Birds

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether operation Artemis’ strategy recognises that, in areas where illegal killing of birds of prey occurs, the nature of offences against hen harriers may make them difficult to detect and the detection and investigation of offences involving other species can act as an early warning system that hen harriers may be at risk and may present an opportunity to apprehend offenders before they have a severe effect on hen harriers and other rare species in that area.

Michael Russell: Operation Artemis came to a close on the 30 September 2007. It was a part of the UK police service response to counter the criminal threat to hen harriers. The aims were to work in partnership to secure better prevention, detection and investigation of offences against the species across the whole of the UK.

  The police service response to tackling this criminal activity involves analysing all aspects of the modus operandi used by those who persecute hen harriers.

  Partly as a result of the investigative work carried out by Operation Artemis the illegal persecution of the hen harrier was reaffirmed as a UK wildlife crime priority for the period 2007-08 on 2 October 2007.

Constitution

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Cabinet Secretary or minister would be prepared to certify the provisions of the draft Referendum (Scotland) Bill to be within the legislative competence of the Parliament as required by section 31 (1) of the Scotland Act 1998 and, if so, which Cabinet Secretary or minister.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-3306 on 12 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Council Tax

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the council tax freeze announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth on 28 June 2007 ( Official Report c. 1210) will result in the scheduled replacement of Elgin Academy and Elgin High School being cancelled or delayed.

Fiona Hyslop: Discussions are on-going with local government on how best to deliver a council tax freeze. Throughout these discussions, we have made clear that we are working towards a strategic agreement on a range of measures that will enable local authorities to deliver a council tax freeze while maintaining and improving frontline services. Specific decisions on investment in any individual school building are always a matter for the local authority.

Justice

David Whitton (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to introduce rights to assistance in Scottish courts by means of a litigation friend system, similar to that operated in England and Wales.

Kenny MacAskill: This is a matter for the presiding judge to decide in individual cases. Litigants may ask the judge to allow them to have someone to assist them and such requests will be considered by the judge according to the individual circumstances.

Justice

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions of traders have resulted from investigations by trading standards officers in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Kenny MacAskill: Convictions of traders resulting from investigations by trading standards officers cannot be separately identified from other convictions of traders within the data held centrally.

Land

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether land that has been held in local authority road accounts and subsequently becomes surplus to requirements must undergo reclassification before being sold to developers.

John Swinney: Land which is no longer required for operational purposes must be reclassified by local authorities as surplus to requirements and revalued, usually at market value. Any disposal at less than the best consideration that can reasonably be obtained currently requires the prior consent of Scottish ministers.

  Any application to build on such land would be determined in accordance with the local development plan, unless material considerations indicated otherwise

Land

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any limit is applied to the length of time that disused land may be held in local authority road accounts.

John Swinney: Local authorities are required constantly to review assets that are used in the course of delivering public services. Assets which are no longer required for operational purposes must be reclassified by local authorities as surplus to requirements and revalued. However, local authorities are not required to dispose of land at this stage, as they may wish to take a strategic view and consider future alternative uses for these assets.

Land

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration must be given to local residents’ views before adjacent land is sold by local authorities for development purposes.

John Swinney: Local residents have the opportunity to express their views on land to be sold for development through the local plan consultation process. All comments received as part of this process are made public.

Land

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance or laws there are for the protection of wildlife and local ecology in the process of selling local authority land for development.

John Swinney: National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 14: Natural Heritage (published 1999) sets out government guidance on how policies for conservation and enhancement of Scotland’s natural heritage should be reflected in land use planning. It explains how planning authorities are expected to have full regard to natural heritage considerations in determining planning applications. NPPG 14 is currently under review and will in due course be replaced by a new Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 14. A draft version of SPP 14 will be issued for consultation early in 2008.

Land

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what schemes, grants or funding are in place to enable local residents to buy land that is earmarked for sale from local authorities.

John Swinney: The Big Lottery Fund provides money for community led groups to acquire or develop assets (including land), for their own use, through its Growing Community Assets programme. Further details can be obtained from the Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund.

Land

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what land was acquired by Glasgow City Council for the building of the Clydeside Expressway and whether all such land was used in its construction.

John Swinney: This is an operational matter for Glasgow City Council.

Local Government Finance

Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional funding will be provided to the City of Edinburgh Council to help resolve funding issues in its education department.

Fiona Hyslop: The 2007-08 local government finance settlement has been fully allocated and it is for each authority to manage its spending within the overall resources available to it, including those provided by government and those raised locally. Within the 2007-08 budget the new government has already provided the City of Edinburgh Council since June with additional resources, both capital and current, in excess of £5 million, for various purposes connected with the delivery of education and early years services.

Ministerial Meetings

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what subjects were discussed at any recent meetings between the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing and the chairs of NHS boards.

Nicola Sturgeon: Since becoming Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing I have had formal meetings with NHS boards chairs on 18 June, 23 July and 1 October. At these meetings a wide range of current issues are discussed with chairs. These have included:

  Waiting Times

  Alcohol and Smoking

  Cancer

  Annual Reviews

  Workforce Issues

  Free Personal Care

  Dentistry

  GPs Surgery Opening Hours

  Sport and Physical Activity

  Community Planning Partnerships

  The Abolition of Availability Status Codes

  Modernising Medical Careers

  Service Reconfiguration and Independent Scrutiny

  Delivering for Mental Health

  Shifting the Balance of Care

  The Healthier Scotland Objective Performance Measurement Framework

  National Resource Allocation Committee

  Glasgow Airport Incident

  New Action Plan

  Health Inequalities

  Organ Donation Task Force

  Point Prevalence Survey for HAI

  Regulation White Paper Implementation

  Staff Absence

  e-Health

  NHS Pay

  100 Day Progress

  Better Health Better Care

  Health Inequalities Task Force

  Cancer Waiting Times

  Audiology

  Long-Term Conditions – Audit Scotland Report

  Primary Care Out-of-Hours Services – Audit Scotland Report

  Information Sharing between the NHS and the Police

  Alcohol Awareness Week

  60th Anniversary of the NHS

  Choosing Scotland’s Future.

Nursing

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the intake levels have been for student nurses and midwives in each of the last three years.

Nicola Sturgeon: Information on intake levels for student nurses and midwives is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under workforce statistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

  Section E gives details of the nursing and midwifery students in training. In particular, table E11 shows the intake numbers for student nurses and midwives by financial year and nursing speciality. Figures are also broken down to show initial entrants and conversion students. Latest available figures are at financial year 2005-06

Nursing

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what data it collects on intake levels for student nurses and midwives.

Nicola Sturgeon: Data on intake levels for student nurses and midwives is sourced from NHS Education for Scotland’s "Annual Statistical Supplement". Intake numbers for student nurses and midwives are collected and shown by financial year and nursing speciality. Figures are also broken down to show initial entrants and conversion students.

Nursing

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of funding was for student nurse and midwife pre-registration education in the last three years for which figures are available.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information is set out in the table below.

  

 
Education (£ Million)
Bursary (£ Million)


2007-08
65
69


2006-07
59
67


2005-06
54
62

Nursing

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what data it collects on funding for student nurses and midwives.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government determines the funding available according to the numbers of student nurses and midwives being trained. We monitor developments in higher education funding and student support generally, to assist in determining the levels of funding required.

Nursing

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make an announcement about the intake of student nurses and midwives for 2008-09 and whether it anticipates that the intake for this period will be lower than in previous years.

Nicola Sturgeon: The annual exercise to determine the levels of student nurse and midwife intakes is currently underway and will be completed by the end of the year. An announcement will be made as soon as possible after the exercise is completed. It is too soon to say what the outcome of the exercise will be.

Nursing

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can confirm that funding for pre-registration nursing and midwifery will continue at current levels.

Nicola Sturgeon: The annual exercise to determine the intake level of student nurses and midwives is currently underway. No decisions about funding can be taken until the outcome of that exercise is known.